Stop Putting Off Your Social Media Marketing

I was wandering around the Interwebs looking for someone to cuff my husband’s pants. That’s another story, but I found some interesting stats along the way. And don’t bug me about how I found them while Googling “pants, cuffs”.

Some social media statistics from Allstate and the National Journal:

-64% of U.S. adults are active on social media

-79% of social media users are likely to seek the opinions of others before buying goods or services, and 64% of them have changed their minds because of those opinions

-59% of social media users say a company’s social media activities make the company appear “accessible and responsive”

-64% of social media users want to see companies use social media for customer service.

Pretty compelling info, wouldn’t you say? But this is good news. This means that if you give your social media efforts some attention chances are you’ll have an audience waiting for you. And you may even find someone to cuff your pants.

If you’re a small business owner, entering the social media fray can seem intimidating. It’s not the same animal as plain old newspaper or television advertising and involves a whole lot of ever-changing technology. It’s doubtful that even Don Draper could have been such a stud if you added social media to his job duties. The man would cry a river into his Manhattan, big baby.

These days consumers expect (and even require) that a company have a social media presence. Especially with the mobile revolution quickly descending on us. Using a smartphone to shop, read reviews, find locations, and get coupons will soon be the way we all live so start now and be ready.

Some hard facts about social media:

-It takes time and effort.

-ROI is slow and sometimes seems nonexistent.

-You’ll have to educate yourself on the different social sites and technologies.

-You’ll have to believe it will pay off one day.

-It will require consistent interaction and monitoring.

You can start slowly and but stay steady. Posting on Facebook once a month won’t help you. Constant self-promotion won’t either. Initiating a dialogue, engaging with your followers, and offering them value and expertise are good basic steps. Especially that last one-if you don’t offer value and expertise Mark Zuckerberg himself can’t help you. You have to be good at what you do. Or else get really, really good at answering negative comments where the whole world can see them. But don’t worry, even the big corporations make mistakes. Really, really big mistakes.

If the whole social media thing just doesn’t seem like something you can master we don’t blame you. It’s all we do here at Turn The Page Online Marketing and we know it takes time and effort. That’s why we offer training for you and your staff to help you understand the social media environment and how you can use it to increase your sales. But if you just can’t add social media marketing to your To Do List let us handle it for you. It’s what really jazzes us and we’d love to show you what it can do for you. Give us a call, we can help.

Social media is a good way to reach new and potential customers, as well as a way to stay engaged with old customers. Without a social media presence, those customers might switch over to someone who is engaging with them.

It is a lot of work as a business owner but sounds totally worth it. I know I would like to know more about business before I choose which one to use and this seems like a great way to find more information.